Senior Automated Test Engineer
About The Position
Leidos is seeking a Senior Test Automation Engineer for the Chinook program. The position supports mission-essential software used by intelligence professionals to access critical information, analyze data, and support time-sensitive national security operations. The engineer will help prevent operational disruptions by identifying defects early, validating critical system functionality, and ensuring new capabilities are ready for customer use. As a member of an Agile team, the engineer will use Playwright to build automated tests for mission-critical user workflows and Bruno and/or Postman to verify the accuracy, reliability, and security of APIs. The role works directly with software engineers and mission stakeholders to strengthen software quality, accelerate secure delivery, and reduce the risk of failures in operational environments. The position may be performed in Gaithersburg, Maryland (the program’s primary work location), Alexandria or Chantilly, Virginia; Englewood, Colorado; St. Louis, Missouri; or Tucson, Arizona. An active Top Secret/SCI clearance and the ability to successfully pass a polygraph examination are required. U.S. citizenship is required by contract.
Requirements
- U.S. citizenship, as required by contract.
- Active Top Secret/SCI clearance and ability to successfully pass a polygraph examination.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field with 8–12 years of relevant experience, or a master’s degree with 6–10 years of relevant experience.
- At least 8 years of hands-on experience in software test automation, quality engineering, or software development, with a strong emphasis on automated testing.
- Hands-on experience developing, executing, and maintaining automated UI tests using Playwright.
- Practical experience using Bruno and/or Postman to develop, execute, and validate API tests.
- Strong TypeScript and/or JavaScript programming experience for test automation development.
- Experience designing and maintaining automated test frameworks for modern web applications.
- Strong understanding of RESTful APIs, HTTP methods, JSON, authentication mechanisms, and API validation techniques.
- Experience integrating automated tests into CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, GitHub Actions, or equivalent platforms.
- Experience working on Agile software development teams using Scrum or similar methodologies.
- Experience with source control systems such as Git.
- Ability to analyze requirements, develop test scenarios, troubleshoot application issues, and document defects.
- Strong understanding of functional, integration, regression, end-to-end, and negative testing methodologies.
- Excellent communication, collaboration, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to work independently, manage competing priorities, and deliver high-quality automation solutions in a fast-paced Agile environment.
Nice To Haves
- Experience supporting DoD or Intelligence Community programs.
- Advanced Playwright experience, including fixtures, page object models, parallel execution, cross-browser testing, and trace-based debugging.
- Experience developing API automation suites with Bruno CLI, Postman Collection Runner, or Newman and integrating them into CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience validating API schemas, complex JSON responses, OAuth 2.0, JWT-based authentication, and role-based access controls.
- Experience with additional automation tools such as Cypress, Selenium, or REST Assured.
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and containerized testing environments.
- Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS and automated testing of cloud-hosted applications.
- Experience with SQL and database validation for end-to-end test scenarios.
- Experience testing microservices-based or distributed applications.
- Familiarity with security testing principles and secure software development practices.
- Experience with test reporting, automation metrics, and quality dashboards.
- Knowledge of Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), Test-Driven Development (TDD), and shift-left testing practices.
- Experience mentoring engineers or serving as a technical lead for test automation initiatives.
- Experience with geospatial applications or GEOINT data.
- Certifications such as ISTQB, CASTP, CAST, CSTE, Security+, or similar.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, execute, and maintain Playwright automated test scripts for web application functionality, user workflows, and regression requirements.
- Develop and maintain API tests using Bruno and/or Postman to validate RESTful services, payloads, authentication, error handling, and data integrity.
- Build and enhance scalable automation frameworks for functional, integration, end-to-end, smoke, and regression testing.
- Integrate automated test suites into CI/CD pipelines for continuous testing, rapid feedback, and early defect detection.
- Collaborate with Agile teams to define acceptance criteria, identify test scenarios, and implement testing strategies within each sprint.
- Participate in sprint planning, daily standups, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
- Develop and execute test plans, cases, and scripts based on user stories, functional requirements, and system specifications.
- Validate APIs, including HTTP methods, status codes, JSON payloads, authorization, authentication, and negative test scenarios.
- Analyze test results, troubleshoot failures, identify root causes, and document defects using tools such as Jira.
- Partner with software developers to improve application testability, enable earlier testing, and reduce manual regression testing.
- Establish and promote automation standards, reusable components, and engineering best practices across the development team.
- Support test data management, environment configuration, and test execution across development, integration, and staging environments.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior test engineers and contribute to improvement of the team’s quality engineering practices.
- Ensure testing aligns with customer security requirements, organizational quality standards, and program delivery objectives.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
